[MPlayer-dev-eng] [DOCS] encoding.html

[Jonas Jermann]

Hi

On Sun, Nov 03, 2002 at 06:02:56PM +0100, Arpi wrote:
[...]
> it needs some extending, imho we should add at least 2 big sections.
> myidea about a new TOC:

> - introduction
>   - what is it
>   - major features
>   - known limitations (avi out only etc)
> - compilation
>   - optional libs, etc

hmm, doesn't this belong at the beginning of the documentation? 
If not, the two sections (mplayer and mencoder) could be
completely seperated too. Example:
Move everything except hints/etc about mencoder to encoding.html
and create a similar beginning as in documentation.html (maybe a
separated history/changelog/faq/more too). I know it already is
sthg like this, but it will get better if one has a clear
(mentioned) documentation design....

Some things are still a bit "messy". The FAQs for example, 
I still see some in different places (e.g. libavc-options.txt),
they should all be in faq.html (IMHO).

> - codecs
>   - video codecs
>     - lavc (options, tricks, rcommended parameters, realtime vs hq encoding etc)
>     - xvid (-//-)
>     - divx4/divx5 (-//-)
>     - rawrgb
>     - copy (limitations, recommended use etc)
>     - frameno (referenec to 3-pass encoding)
What about all the mplayer/mencvcd/etc options: jpg/etc,
-vop lavc/etc, (tvout,) dump*sub, vobsubout, subrip, etc....
I suppose the topic related should just go to the "encoding 
tutorial" or "other uses" to keep it mencoder only?

[...]
> - encoding tutorial
>   - recommendations for crop/scaling (16-aligned w/h, aspect ratio etc)
>   - bitrate calculation, vbr vs. cbr etc
>   - multi pass encoding
>   - dvd ripping (-streamcopy vs play_title vs dvdbackuip vs -ovc copy -oac copy)
Maybe the encoding tutorial should be separated in input 
sections (e.g. dvd, vcd, vob/ifo files, tv, web, mf, (cdd[ab],) 
dvb). dvd ripping is surely a big part...

[...]
>   - extracting VOB subtitles
>   - encoding from image sequence (-mf)
>   - creating vcd/svcd (mencvcd)
>   - TV capturing/recording
These could go into encoding tutorial (IMHO, see above).

> What do you think?
Nice overview/structure! :)))

One thing I'm not sure about are the technical details. It would 
be nice to have a technical overview off all related things (or 
at least a link). Many (all needed ;) guides already exist on the
web. Comparisons would be nice too (see Michael's comparison)...
Here some start links (I'm sure you know better ones):
    
    - mphq/~michael/codec-features.html (comparison)
    - www.divx.com/support/divx/guide (comparison)
    - www.bunkus.org/dvdripping4linux/en/single/index.html (old)
    - www.doom9.org ;)
    - www.divx-digest.com/articles/index.html
    - .......

I'm not sure if it should be separated from the main doc, 
or integrated in it (e.g. links). the cd/dvd docs contain some 
technical information about dvd/vcd for example, what to do with 
them....

Another thing is the tech/ dir. IMHO all the information inside 
sws*.txt, libavc-options.txt and vop.txt should/could be moved
to the documentation (sws) and/or encoding guide
(libavc-options.txt, vop.txt, maybe more).
With information I ment the hints and technical information, 
not the option descriptions (belong to man page). Ideal end 
result would be: All hints in the html/xml docs, all option 
descriptions in the man page and all technical/development 
details in tech/.

Those were just some additional ideas to help you. I'm really 
curious as I didn't find any good linux encoding guide so far...


Best Regards
    Jonas


Btw: What happend to Diego's wishlist? I'd like to see it...